• Andrew Portwood Artist Statement and Bio

    Andrew Portwood Artist's Statement and Bio, 2024

    “When I am painting, I am just dreaming out loud“.
    “My pictures are personal statements rendered through a dialogue between materials, echo’s of my own personal experience, and the emotions connected to those experiences. I prefer to take a narrative approach by giving the viewer signposts and only starting points for their free associations and interpretations. It is then up to the viewer to find and complete their own story and dialogue.”
    Working from memories and the "mind's eye", dreams and emotions inspire my creative processes and provide a basis for my portraits, figures and landscapes.
    I think that art is a creative manifestation of one's own accumulated life experiences….the subconscious mind's need to translate one's present state into visual clues, symbols, pictures, and daydreams for self-explanation of life and existence. I am seeking, struggling for, and arriving at tangible images of personal understanding.

    Education
    Auburn University, School of Visual Art and Design Bachelor of Fine Art, 1984

    Awards
    1984, Illustration appearing in
    Print Magazine Regional Design Annual.
    1987-2000, Free-lance artist creating artworks for advertising and corporate clients, design firms and various
    publishers of literature for children.
    1998, Junior Library Guild Award for illustrated children’s picture book
    Dragon scales & Willowleaves, published by
    G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York 1998.
    1999, Cover art commission for
    Knock At A Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry, compiled by X.J. and Dorothy M.
    Kennedy. published by Little, Brown, Boston
    Illustrated by Andrew Portwood and Karen Lee Baker.

    Exhibitions

    Heaven Blue Rose Gallery, Group show, Atlanta, GA 2006
    Aliya Linstum Gallery, Atlanta, Ga, Scott Hill, The traveler’s diary,
    Introducing Andrew Portwood, Middle gallery, March 17- April 6, 2007
    Aliya Linstrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA
    Andrew Portwood, Margaret Dyer ,Sept. 8-29, 2007
    Aliya Linstrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA , Equus Curatio, Group show, Oct. 6-26 2007
    Aliya Linstrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA ,Group show, Holiday Exhibition Dec 27, 2007
    River Gallery, Feb 1-29, 2008, Chattanooga,TN
    A different story, Andrew Portwood, Mary Cour Burrows Joan Rasmussen
    Bennett Gallery, Nashville, TN, Artrageous, Group show, November, 2009
    The Mercantile, Atlanta, GA 2009-2011
    The Nicholson Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2010 - 2013
    Pryor Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta, 2-week Pop-Up show, October 2014
    Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, Small Works Show , 2014
    Muse Gallery, Roswell GA , 2015
    14th Street Antiques, Atlanta, GA, 2016
    MacGryder Gallery,615 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA, 2018
    6 charcoal drawings exhibited July 7, 2018, group show,
    Meyer Vogl Gallery, Charleston, SC, 2021,
    Love Story, a group exhibition, June 4-25, 2021
    Meyer Vogl Gallery,
    Mixtape, group exhibition, Dec 3-23, 2021
    Good On Paper, group exhibition, March 4-25
    Bright Ideas, Diane Eugster & Andrew Portwood
    June 3rd- 24th, 2022
    Meyer Vogl Gallery, Choose Your Own Adventure, group exhibition, June 2-23, 2023
    LilyPad West Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, “Into the Night” exhibition, Nov. 1- Dec. 31, 2023
    Jillian Mac Gallery, 3923 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA
    Guest artist, Block Party Magazine Street, August 3rd, 2023,
    Full Circle, Group Show, Dec. 2, 2023

    Press
    Chattanooga Times Free Press Sunday, January 27, 2008 “A Different Story” Narrative is the common denominator among the artists featured at the River Gallery In February
    Equestrian Quarterly Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3
    "The Imaginary Equines of Andrew Portwood" by Stephanie Peters
    Art + Design Magazine, Art of Living/ Spring 2018, Issue No. 18
    Page 44, des Objets pour les hommes, Harlequin Horse, by Andrew Portwood, monotype on paper,
    17” x 13”